


Assignments and Enquiries

by Clocketpatch



Category: Public Eye (TV), Sapphire and Steel
Genre: frank's mug, nothing is resolved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clocketpatch/pseuds/Clocketpatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank investigates a phone call which doesn't make much sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assignments and Enquiries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lost_spook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/gifts).



> I have a feeling that everyone's voice is a bit off since I haven't watched much of Public Eye and find S&S difficult to write, but I thought you deserved a treat and know that you love Frank, so hopefully the result isn't too OOC. Merry Christmas and Happy Yuletide!

Rain splatted against the window as yet another train went by outside. Shrieking locomotives aside, it had been a quiet day. Frank sat by the phone. His (empty) mug sat beside him.

When the phone rang, he answered it. No one answered back.

"Hello?" Frank asked. He waited what seemed like reasonable interval before chastising the silence, "I could have other callers trying to come through you know. I can't afford to waste my time on funny business."

The silence gave way to heavy breathing. Frank was annoyed. It was most likely a prank. Some local boys with a bit of spare change who decided that it would be a laugh to call up the local enquiry agent. But if it wasn't a prank… it had been a long, empty week, and Frank couldn't afford to hang-up on a potential customer. Though he had a mind to do so if they didn't start talking.

"See here, I'm going to give you until the count of three. One. Two –"

"He just vanished!" a woman said, her voice indistinct. The connection was terrible. Frank hoped that she hadn't been relaying her story while he'd been berating her for not talking.

"Who vanished?" Frank asked, pulling out a note pad, "And who are you?"

"We were just waking up this morning, he went down to the kitchen to fetch some eggs…" The woman paused for a moment, as if overcome, "And then he just vanished into thin air, Mr. Marker! I found your name in the directory, because I knew that the police wouldn't believe me. But someone has to do _something_."

"Now come on," said Frank, not unkindly, "People don't just disappear. Unless you're pulling my leg, this man - your husband? Son? Visitor you don't want anyone else knowing about? - will turn up, though probably not where you want or expect him to. I'll need your name, and his, and an address for starting. And then I'll be down to pay you a visit –"

The line crackled badly. The woman said an address, which Frank was only barely able to make out. He jotted it down. The woman said something else, but whatever it was, it was obscured by the thundering passage of a train beneath Frank's office window.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Frank asked. The line clicked, then cleared.

"Your services are no longer needed," said a brusque, male voice.

"Now just a minute – " Frank said, but it was too late. The line had gone dead.

Frank leaned back in his chair, contemplating his choices. On the one hand, it was probably a prank, but if not, then what? Call the police? On what evidence? Frank looked out the window. The weather was clearing, the address was close, and it would be good to stretch his legs after a long day of sitting.

 

*

 

Frank knocked on the door of the residence. It was an older house with intricate modelling around the door frame. The knocker was metal and shaped like a snake-head. There were several crashes inside. People talking frantically. The door slammed open.

Frank found himself staring into the eyes of an intense, blonde-haired man. He wasn't very tall or strong-looking, and he was dressed in a sharp suit, but there was something harsh and alien under that veneer of civility. Frank didn't like him.

"Who might you be?" the man asked. It was the same voice as the man who had hung up on him.

"Frank Marker, I'm an enquiry agent. Who might you be?" Frank said, shifting his foot so that the door would not be slammed shut without difficulties (and a bruised foot, but that was an ever-present occupational hazard).

"What does an enquiry agent do?" the man asked.

"He enquires," said Frank.

"Not here," said the man. He attempted to close the door, but found it blocked.

"I got a suspicious call, you see," said Frank, "and I'm thinking that it's more suspicious by the minute. So maybe you'll let me in to do my business, or I could go find an anonymous payphone and call up a few officers to investigate instead. It makes no difference to me."

The man looked Frank up and down as if judging his words. Then he looked over his shoulder and shouted: "Sapphire, you deal with this."

A moment later, a beautiful woman appeared at the door to take the man's place. She wore a blue pantsuit and had curled blonde hair the same shade as the man's. Frank wondered briefly if they were related, but dismissed the thought just as quickly. He couldn't determine the relationship, but whatever it was, it wasn't family.

"Are you the one who called me up?" Frank asked.

"No," Sapphire said, with the hint of a smile playing over her lips. "I'm sorry about my associate. Steel doesn't have the best people skills."

"Is this a trick?" Frank asked.

"No, but it's nothing you need to bother with either. It would be best if you just forgot this whole incident."

"I would, and with pleasure, but remembering is the skill I cultivate in my line of work. If you misplace details then you end up at the wrong conclusions, and the end result is no business. Now, I've got a few questions, and maybe you can help me with them..."

"I'd be pleased to," Sapphire said, reaching out her hand to touch Frank's forehead…

 

*

 

_In the brief interval of the in between, Frank heard two people conversing:_

 

_"It's none of our concern," said Steel._

 

_"It is unfortunate though," said Sapphire, "such a waste of potential, and it's not his fault."_

 

_"It is absolutely his fault."_

 

_"Perhaps... but he under-values himself so thoroughly. If I could just -"  
_

 

_"That's his choice, Sapphire," Steel said gently, "not yours."_

 

*

 

Rain splatted against the window as yet another train went by outside. Shrieking locomotives aside, it had been a quiet day. Frank sat by the phone. His (empty) mug sat beside him.

He looked down at his notepad and noticed an address scribbled there. He couldn't remember writing it down. Frank looked at it for a long time, trying to connect it to one of his past cases, and failing. He sighed, pulled the page up, crumpled it, and threw it in the bin.

And then went back to sitting and waiting for nothing much to happen.

 

 


End file.
